Green Mechanical Contractor Spring 2011
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Cover Story By Dave Yates Holy Energy Conservation! offi ces and lounge were noisy, ineffi cient, and several were A steam boiler that runs 24/7 no longer operational. e 16 one-ton through-the-wall A/C units in the sanc- until somebody turns off its tuary incorporated a hot water coil for heating and, over time, the committee had learned to cover the exterior grills power is just one of the energy with cardboard during winter to avoid messy and costly freeze-damage from split coils. With another hot sum- hogs at this comprehensive mer approaching, and several non-functioning TTW A/C units, they were feeling the heat from the congregation to church retrofit project. fi nalize plans. During their three-year journey, they had met with several ome would classify the following story as green mechanical contractors and knew the church needed a sys- or combating global warming or even as saving tem-wide renovation. And that’s where you and I begin our the planet. I would simply call it a common-sense trip through this process. e property committee requested approach to energy conservation while designing a proposal to replace their systems. During our initial visit, an HVAC system’s replacement to take advantage we’ll discover the following: Sof today’s effi cient and reliable equipment. is one garners no Federal tax credit because it involves a church. Come A 1964 STEAM BOILER along for a trip through this process — from inception to e steam boiler, replaced in 1964, is fi ring at 1.8 million- delivery — and I’ll share with you the process I use and some Btuh. (See sidebar on timing a gas meter.) Its rating plate fun ways to deliver the promise of comfort and economy. indicates a maximum fi ring rate of 1.5 million-Btuh. Over- The property committee at St. Paul’s Church in Dal- firing = wasting energy and large production of carbon lastown, Pa., had been working on resolutions for their monoxide due to over-rich fuel-to-air mixture. heating and cooling systems for more than three years. e A wooden 2x4 frame is holding up the boiler’s flue- newest HVAC systems had been installed in 1964 and the collection box and dra diverter (fi re hazard) because, as through-the-wall air-conditioning units in the sanctuary, you can see, the weight of the asbestos-covered fl ue pipe 14 GREEN MECHANICAL CONTRACTOR • Spring 2011 greenmechanicalcontractor.com (large enough for Santa to slide through) has bent the The 1964 addition uses hot water for its heating via heavy-gauge box where it meets the boiler’s fl ue-gas outlet. recessed wall convectors and those 16 hybrid A/C units. A half-fast piece of metal hangar-strap is attached and Here in the boiler room, we’re confronted by a large steam- looped over an overhead steam pipe for support, but does to-hot-water tube-in-shell heat exchanger and a rat’s nest of not work and has cut through the pipe’s insulation. Death piping with old and tired circulators. Lots of used circulator lurks here and you will point out to the property commit- parts lay about indicating past troubles. It's a nice application tee that no matter who gets this job, this is a situation that for a modulating condensing boiler if the radiation can be demands immediate attention. made to work with varying temperatures. e steam pressure switches are installed using iron-pipe You’re more than a bit surprised to find that this steam pigtails, which do not meet code (must be brass) and are boiler with its haphazard fl ue and high pressure is set to run subject to clogging with rust/mud. You are surprised to 24/7 until someone manually turns off the electricity to the discover these two switches have been set to operate this burner! You fi nd the motherlode of energy waste and this boiler between 6- to 9-PSI. Steam systems have a specifi c vol- point will be driven home in your fi rst report. Let’s call it e ume within the radiators, piping and boiler, which must be Good, e Bad and e Ugly. fi lled with steam. As you increase the system pressure, steam ey’ve obviously had problems with unauthorized ther- (which is a gas) is compressed. As steam is compressed, more mostat tweaking because here in the mechanical room reside of it must be made in order to fill the same volume; that all the zone thermostats wired to remote thermistors that means burning lots more gas to do the same work of supply- tell these remote thermostats what the temperature is where ing heat. is was originally a vapor system designed to work they are located. e thermostats can be coded so that access on ounces, not pounds, of steam. Part of what you and I now is limited. Not bad, but they may prefer a better way with need to do is educate the property committee about this issue remote access via the Internet by computer or cell phone. that is wasting energy. You’ll never know if you don’t ask and what you’re going to suggest they most likely never heard about. So far, we’ve only studied the boiler room. We’ll need to move on to determine what’s in the rest of the church build- ings that is connected to each other as one larger complex. HOT AND COLD In the older portions of the church, there are rooms that are hot-as-a-sweatbox and entrances on both sides of the Nar- thex that rapidly become cold during winter as folks come and go. We’re on the outer edge of the 1-pipe steam system and the radiators are not connected across the top, meaning you cannot convert them to hot water. e steam radiators — every one of them — have a pan or a cup placed directly under the air vents to catch con- Before densate that’s spitting up through each one. Also, there is Before After greenmechanicalcontractor.com Spring 2011 • GREEN MECHANICAL CONTRACTOR 15 Cover Story noticeable water damage at each radiator’s valve that has Bear in mind that you’ll be striving to explain everything stained the hardwood floors. You can offer to fix these issues you’ve discovered in plain English and not use the jargon by lowering the steam pressure, installing new air vents and that you would when talking to a fellow tradesperson. If re-packing the valve stems or replacing the valves. Tere are you lose the audience at this stage, you likely won’t get the other options; you just need to ask, listen and then provide work. I was stunned to find out that they no longer wanted the solutions. What they told me they wanted was a total anything to do with steam — they wanted high-efficiency surprise. Read on. boilers or a geothermal system and they were interested in In the attic, there are two 5-ton air handlers serving the mini-split inverter heat pumps to replace those 1964 rattle- social hall. Someone fell or stepped on the metal fiberglass- trap A/C units. Tey’re going to ask you to supply them with wrapped trunk line collapsing it, which is severely restricting installation and operating costs for next month’s property airflow. Te insulation has rebounded to conceal the damage committee meeting. You will also be asked to provide long- and no one was made aware of this issue. Tis situation needs term costs, life-cycle costs and payback for each system. to be corrected. The total heat loss using Manual J is slightly less than Tese are relatively new A/C systems that the committee 650,000-Btuh and that includes a 15% pick-up factor for the will most likely want to keep, but there’s a better way to run hot water piping. Tat means the old boiler was pumping a them that will conserve energy. Te filters are dirty and lots minimum of 1.12 million-Btuh straight up the chimney if all of old discarded filters litter the area. Te condensate drains zones were on every time it ran. (Remember, it’s on 24/7 until have dips where gunk has collected. We’ll explain everything someone manually turns off its electricity.) But this system is in our report. divided into nine separate zones, meaning still more energy The kindergarten room on the lower floor has the only is sent to heat the Great Outdoors! How does a system get 2-pipe steam radiators. Te kitchen just off this room and this far off course? adjacent to the boiler room has a stretch of commercial fin-tube baseboard as part of a hot-water zone installed THE HOT-WATER SYSTEM upside-down near the ceiling! The old steam lines were Te tangled rat’s nest of piping will be relatively easy to strip capped off. If you or I had installed that baseboard like that, it away while adding properly designed zone pumping via would never have worked and we’d be back to do something ECM circulators to slash parasitic energy consumption (see a bit more conventional! A bit of creative 1964-era work. www.contractormag.com/features/biggest-loser-1234) Te men’s room in the lower level has a 1-pipe flat steam while transferring comfort from source to use. Te added radiator mounted horizontally on the ceiling.